A homeless and disabled former soldier who has spent the past four nights camping outside City Hall in Lincoln says he will stay there for as long as it takes for the council to find him a suitable home.

Tom Foley, 36, who has a degenerative back condition meaning that vertebrae are disintegrating, wants a flat so that his children can visit him.

He has been offered a one-room bedsit in Gainsborough but he says this does not meet his needs.

Dad-of-four Mr Foley, who served five years in the Royal Logistics Corps as a port operator and driver and is originally from Doncaster, has been homeless in Lincoln and in Leeds for about two years.

Tom Foley (Image: Paul Whitelam)

He said: "I came to Lincoln to be nearer to my kids and also to study and work on my writing.

"I was on the street and in October last year I tried to kill myself and ended up at Lincoln County Hospital.

"I went to the council in January this year for a flat but they said they could not help because I have no local connections.

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"They did put me in a B&B and then eight days later they put me into crash pad accommodation at the YMCA.

"The council's rough sleeping team are dealing with my case and they told me they'd found me a one-bedroom flat in Gainsborough.

"I went to view the property on my own before I signed for it and discovered it wasn't a flat, it was a bedsit, and I couldn't have my kids visit me there."

Mr Foley's children live in Grimsby and in Doncaster, so he has come to Lincoln to be at a central point between the two of them.

Tom Foley's tent at City Hall (Image: Paul Whitelam)

He said he was evicted from the YMCA, where he was staying, for allegedly being rude to staff - which he denies - and failing to attend a viewing for a privately-rented property arranged by the council.

He then began his protest outside the City of Lincoln Council offices on Monday, February 25.

The authority is among several local councils that have signed the Lincolnshire Armed Forces Covenant to support serving personnel and veterans in housing, welfare and other matters.